


an unexpected snap

by SinginInTheRaine



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Character Death Fix, Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-04 04:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20465327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SinginInTheRaine/pseuds/SinginInTheRaine
Summary: The battle was over. They had won. Tony was okay. Everything was good.And then Carol noticed the figure lying on the ground at the edge of the battlefield.





	an unexpected snap

**Author's Note:**

  * For [saiditallbefore](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saiditallbefore/gifts).

“I am Iron Man.”

Tony snapped his fingers. 

For a moment, it was like everyone on the entire battlefield forgot to breath. A beat of silence as everything paused. Carol felt like she had all the time in the world, in that split second, to look around. At all these heroes — some she knew, most she didn’t. At Thanos, staring at Tony in shock as he realized what was happening. At Thanos’ henchmen, who all seem to freeze, in various battle poses, their gazes shifting almost involuntarily to watch the scene between the two leaders.

And then time sped up again.

The woman Carol had just taken a punch at, before Tony snapped, turned to dust as Carol watched. She lifted her head, looked around.

The heroes on their side were backing away. Clouds of dust were appearing almost everywhere, as one by one the warriors from 2014 were vanished — sent back in time to where they had come from, sent back to where all the people had gone when Thanos’ snapped, Carol wasn’t sure.

And then they were gone. And it was silent again.

Arms dropped to their sides. Heads drooped. Shoulders sagged. And then the sighs of relief, the small smiles.

And then everyone was running and shouting and celebrating. Some were hurrying toward Tony, trying to make sure he was okay. Some were hugging and crying — mostly the people who had just spent five years without friends they loved.

Carol watched them all, taking it in. She felt oddly apart from the celebration — she had never known any of them before the Snap and she never felt that close to any of them after it. She helped because she wanted to help. She fought because that is what she did. The only person she’d even had regular contact with, and maybe was starting to consider a friend, wasn’t even here anymore.

Carol tilted her head back and shot up into the air. She could at least make sure everyone really was okay. She could see Pepper and Steve in the distance helping Tony to stand — he seemed weak but like he was going to be okay.

She paused high enough above the battlefield that she could see past the edges of where the fight was — the hole where once was the Avengers compound, the destruction that seemed to spread outward. 

Everything looked good at first glance. People had converged into little groups, talking, hugging, crying, catching up. Most of them were walking toward where the largest group was gathered, with Tony, Pepper and Steve right at the center. Carol could see Thor, Bruce, Rocket, Nebula — all the people she had worked with for the past five years.

She took one last spin through the air just to make sure.

And wait.

She frowned. At the very edge of the battlefield she saw something. A dark shape. A _human-looking_ dark shape.

No one else seemed to have noticed anything unusual. But the shape wasn’t moving.

Carol quickly made her way in that direction, dropping down to the ground a few feet from the figure. Whoever it was lay facedown. 

She took a step closer — and frozen.

Red hair. Braided red hair, glinting softly against the black suit.

Carol was next to her in a second, rolling her over gently.

_Natasha._

She wasn’t conscious, but a quick check of her pulse confirmed she was definitely alive. Alive. And here. Natasha was _here_.

She carefully lifted her up, into her arms, and shot back into the air. She landed on the edge of the crowd, everyone’s attention now focused on Tony who was insisting that he was fine, just tired, but there was nothing wrong with him so please, please, please stop hovering.

“Hey, you guys,” Carol called.

Steve turned first — and froze. He stared at Carol, then at Natasha in her arms and then back at Carol.

“Nat?” he said, in a sort of half-whisper.

The single word, as soft as it was uttered, seemed to carry over the crowd. One by one, they all turned toward Carol and Natasha, eyes widening in shock and relief and confusion.

Steve made it to Carol in what seemed like a single bound. His fingers reached for Natasha’s pulse, confirming for himself she was alive and she was _here_. He lifted his head to stare at Carol.

“How?” he said.

“I don’t know,” Carol said. “I just found her.”

“Tony’s snap,” someone said. Maybe Bruce. And heads all turned toward Tony, who was climbing to his feet with Pepper’s help, pushing through the crowd to see Natasha for himself.

“I was thinking about her when I snapped,” he said, almost in awe. “I was thinking that snap was for her, for what she gave up for us.” He paused to just stare at her. “It brought her back?”

“Okay, everyone.” Now Bruce was pushing his way through the crowd. “Let’s get her back to …” He frowned, remembering they didn’t have a compound to go back to. “Okay, we’ve got to get her somewhere so we can check her over, make sure she’s really okay.”

He didn’t say what a lot of them were thinking — everyone else had come back just as they are. But Natasha had shown up here, not in 2014 where she died and also not conscious.

“Tony needs to be looked at too,” Pepper said.

“Our house,” Tony said. He didn’t seem to notice Pepper’s frown. “I still have all the tech. It’s not that far. If someone who can fly …”

“Grab Tony,” Carol said to Pepper. “I have her.”

“_I_ can fly,” Tony said. 

Pepper grabbed his arm anyway, and with the two of them trading disapproving looks at each other they shot into the air.

Carol looked at Steve and Bruce, still standing before her, their hands on Natasha, as if to make sure she kept breathing.

“We’ll meet you there,” Steve said, and then he stepped away. Bruce followed.

Carol nodded. And then she, too, shot in the air, following Pepper and Tony.

She still didn’t understand what had happened or how Natasha was here, or even if she would be okay, but she was back and she was alive — everyone was alive — and for this one moment, she was very, very grateful.


End file.
